Regulator valve



1943.- c. E. WIESNER v 2,309,229

REGULATORVALVE Filed Feb. 19; 1941 FIG.2

" ,1 CHRISTOPHER E. WIES N INVENTOR Patented Jan. 26, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- 2.309.229 REGULATOR VALVE Christopher E. Wiessner, Kalamazoo, Mich., assignor to-Durametallic Corporation, Kalamazoo, Mich, a, corporation of Michigan Application February 19,1941, Serial No. 379,597

3 Claims. (01. 137-153) This invention relates to hydraulic pressure regulators and has for its primary purpose the provision of simple ,and' eflective means for the maintaining of a constant and delicately balanced pressure within a hydraulic system throughout a wide range of pressure requirements. This invention, further, is a continuation in part of that described and claimed in my application filed December v29, 1939, and bearing Serial No. 311,517, of the series of 1935.

There exists in common industrial practice, a large number of situations" where it is necessary to maintain a pressure in one hydraulic system in steady, continuous and delicate relationship with the pressure in another hydraulic system. It

these devices on the market, for one reason or another, all fail to fill the above described needs. Some of them have been built for only low pressures and thus their adjusting mechanism has beenaccordingly limited. Some-regulators have in any case only a short range of pressures under which they are capable of operating and, hence,

such regulation is desirable, for purposes of illus- I tration it'will be convenient to refer to the field of operating mechanical seals in the stumng boxes of rotary pumps. Here it is necessary to maintain a pressure within the stuiiing box of the pump and behind the seal, by which the seals y will be kept in operative position and aided in resisting the pressure within the pump. In this system, it is sometimes found desirable to reguate the pressure within the stumng box of the pump behind the seals according to a certain predetermined pressure; but where the pressure within the pump is'variable it is desirable to regulate the pressure'within the stufiing box ofthe pump according. to the pressure variations of the pump. For-a system illustrating more completely this situation and means for meeting it, referonce is invited to my application Serial No.

373,286, filed January 6, 1941.

At the present time, there are on the market a large number of regulating valves of many different kinds. sort of diaphragm for their nucleus of operation and there are, in fact, a few which have a piston and a slot-orifice, which latter may, at first glance, be thought to bear some resemblance to the herein disclosed regulator. However, of

Most of them depend upon some will not meet the widely variant conditions which exist in industrial application and,- particularly,

in the application of mechanical seals as above indicated. Other regulators are extremely large and clumsy and while they might work for the purpose'indicated, their cost is great and hence closely restricts their use. The herein disclosed regulator is small in that it can be readily made of a maximum over-alllengthof eight or nine inches, it can be made inexpensively and easily, willnot get out of order and a single unit will operate over a pressure range of zero to twentyfive hundred pounds per square inch. It is readily convertible from a type which will regulate according to a fixed, pre-detennined pressure or a type which will regulate in response to the pressure existing within another hydraulic system.

As a furtherconsideration, it has been found that in presently known types of regulators any dirt or scale which may exist or develop within the pipe may lodge within the orifice of the pressure regulating device and thus clog the system. It is accordingly desirable to develop a type of regulator which will automatically adjust itself to compensate for any such obstruction and which, when obstruction is cleared away, will again adjust itself to normal position. Accordingly the principal object of my invention i to provide a simple-and effective pressure regulator having a wide range of pressure responsiveness.

Another object of the invention is to provide a valve of theregulator type which is effective to control delicately and constantly a pressure inonehydraulic system in constant and immediate response, and correlation to the pressure in another hydraulic system.

Another objectof the invention is to provide a valve of the regulator type which is eflective to control accurately and precisely pressures in a hydraulic system and is so constructed in its major portions that it can be readily and easily converted by simple exchange of minor parts from a valve of adjustable manual control to a valve-which varies its control according to variations in another hydraulic system without removing the principal part of the valve from the system.- I

Another object of the invention is to provide a valve having the above desirable characteristics which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and effective and reliable in operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide a valve having the above desirable characteristics which has also a capacity for controlling with complete accuracy and without auxiliary equipment pressures ranging from zero to twenty-five hundred pounds per square inch.

A further object of my invention is to provide a pressure regulator which will regulate pressures accuratelythrough a wide, range of effective pressures with the passing, however, of only a small volume of liquid under regulation through said valve and through said system. All presently known regulators require, to secure a range even one-fourth asgreat as provided by my herein disclosed valve, the passing of 9. volume of liquid several times greater than required by my valve. Thus with my equipment the pressure pump of a pressure system may be substantially smaller, by which it is possible to reduce both the initial cost and the operating cost of such system.

Another object of the invention -is to provide a valve having the above desirable characteristics which will automatically adjust itself'under any circumstances of control or pressure variation in pressure to compensate for, and maintain constant pressure when, particles of dirt or fiakes of pipe scale become lodged within the pressure controlling orifice, and, further,

' which will restore itself to its former adjusting up of the fluid in the course of operation.

The abovebeing among the'obiects of the present invention, the same consists in certain novel features of construction and combination of partsto be hereinafter described with reference to theaccompanying drawing, and then.

claimed, having the above and other related objects in view. I

In the accompanying drawing there is shown a certain form of my regulator valve which form has been selected for the purpose of illustration, but which is not the only way in which my invention may be practiced. Upon a careful ex-' amin'ation of the drawing, together with a reading of the hereinafter following disclosure, there will atonce become apparent to one skilled in the art many modifications and variations of the embodiment of the'valve as shown herein, some of which variations may even be improvement hereon but of which all will be within the scope of myinvention as herein disclosed.

In said drawing,

Figure 1 represents a cross-sectional view taken through an axial plane thereof. This form shows my regulator valve assembled for operative control according to the pressuremaintained in another hydraulic system.

Figure 2 is a partial sectional view of my regu- 'smoothly and immediately and without material a lator valve and showing the same assembled for regulation according to a fixed pre-determined setting.

Figure 3 is a broken view of the bottom of my regulator valve in either of the forms shown, and showing particularly the shape of the escape orifice.

Inasmuch as one typical use of this valve involves an oilcirculating hydraulic -system, oil will hereinafter be referred to as the fluid circulating through the pressure system upon which the control is to be exercised, but it should be clearly understood that this is by way of example only and is merely taken for purposes of explanation and illustration. In the same manner propane may be selected as a material being pumped through an oil refinery and hence it may be taken as the material in the hydraulic system which is exercising the control in the situation to which the form shown'in Figure l is applicable, but this likewise is solely by way of illustration and should not in any way be construed as limiting.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 3, the numeral l represents the body part which has a bore 2 extending partway through said body part and threaded at one end 2-a for pipe connection but smooth throughout the rest of its extent; a bore 3 in the side of said body part but out only partway through the same and threaded for pipe connection; a bore 4 communicating with bore 2 and axial therewith but'of larger diameter and threaded as hereinafter described in more detail and a bore 5 communicating with bore 4 and axial therewith but of slightly larger diameter I than bore 4 and pipe threaded as shown at 9. Pipe threading is preferred at this point instead of standard threading in order to prevent leakage of liquid from the interior of body part I. Otherwise any threading is satisfactory; At.6

' there appears a slot, or orifice aligned parallel with the axis of said bore 2 and which is quite narrow. It has parallel sides throughout most ofits length as at 6a and an enlarged portion ,plug's l0 and 23.

body part I as shown but are optional.

of substantially circular cross-section at 6,b. This slot provides the sole communication between bore 2 and bore 3. a At .8 there is a small bore providing communication 'between bore 4 and the exterior of the body, part I and said bore may be threaded as shown for pipe connection. The threading at 9 is provided to accommodate interchangeable pipe Pipe plug ID has bore ll threaded for pipe connection in'its upper end at 'l l-a and communicating with the inner chamber l2 of body part I defined by bores 4 and 5. Bosses l3 and Ii-a are preferably placed on Bore 4 is threaded at l5 to receive screw type packing gland I5 and enable it to be screwed down into said chamber from the top thereof. This thread-1 ing is of standard threads.

Gland I6 is threaded to engage the threads I! of chamber I2, is drilled at its top as at "-a or provided with lugs to receive a spanner wrench, and. it has bore lI therethrough ofsize' to accommodate snugly the piston i8. Packing I9 is any highgrade packing material and may be of one or more units. It is packed tightly into the bottom of chamber l2 and around piston. l8.

As shown, piston l8 fits snugly but slidably within bore 2 and is long .enough that when its,

lower end 20 is at lower end 2| of bore 2, its top end :2 is still above the top surface of gland l6.

is cut so that part 6-0 has sides which are both 7 smooth and parallel and the ,enlarged partat 6-1) by drilling asmall hole at the top-end of part 6--a. Enlarged part 6-1: must, to part 6, be smooth and regular and both l-a and 8-b must blend smoothly together. It should be observed that sometimes the necessities of certain uses of this valve such as for stumn box pressure regulation requires that the pipe fitting into bore 3 be not more than 1 to V inch exterior diameter and hence thespa'ce within which slot 6 can be made is definitely limited. Part 6-a of orifice 6 is in the case of the-above mentioned pipe sizes-preferably, but not necessarily, made about inch wide. All of these dimensions, however, are relative only and for illustrative purposes drawn from the saidstufilng similarly .this-system-and its pressure therefore drops to zero. ,ghs'pressur'e increases at H, the piston I! stant volume which [is being ,put through. thevv oil system. Thus, theslightest variation in the pressure at I] will atfonce-reactfto move piston' 18 upward-pr downward to make an instantaneous and corresponding alterationin the ?'pressure at 2a. Thus, further; by makingthecrifice-slot 6 small and narrow,the'pressure in the controlled system will be. delicately andv accurately conbox use of this valve, and are in no sense critical length of orifice 6 is limited by thesize of pipe selected to fit into bore 3.

After assembly of the valve as appears obvious- .ly from the drawing, thevalve isinstalledwith the pipe providing the inlet of the liquid whosepressure is to be held under control inserted at 2a and the pipe providing the outlet from the valve for said liquid inserted at 3. At "-11 there I is inserted the pipe carrying statically the liquid.

from the system whose pressure is controlling.

trolled with but a verysmallvolume required to 1 move therethrough; 1

It will be appreciated :that it is .often required that an installation be small .yet'capable of handling bothhigh pressuresandfa wide range of'pr'ess'ures. "Ihis istrue partieularlyvwh'ere the full length-'of the slot 'i must, as above indicated, be not greater than theinteriordiameteroi' a pipe whose exterior diameter must often be. as

This pipe when used with a pump is preferably connected at or near the discharge side of the pump (not shown) but it may be'connected to the controlling system at any point from which the pressure is desired to be taken for the control purpose. In this form, the pipe plug l-dds by pipe thread connection insertedinto the bore I in order to close the same to prevent the escape of fluid thereby from chamber l2.

smallas 1 s oi aninch.v Inthesesituationsi-it has been found difllcult to reduce the pressure all of the way tozero. Hence, as above indicated, the

enlarged opening i-b permits all ofthe. oil to ,escapethrough the orifice, and the pressure thus drops' to zero. It acts as a safety measure to make sure that the pressure will drop to zero when the piston ll'has movedup an appropriate distance, while-still permitting a smooth iagid regular gradation ofpressure as the piston passes Pin 3! is inserted through the head of piston it, or the head of said piston may be enlarged to a diameter greater than that shown for the greater part of piston l8, in 'order to limit the travel of the piston downward inv the form as shown in Figure 1. It should be noted, also, that in some applications the bore II is often greater in diameter than the diameter. ofpiston l8 and.

hence, a pinit or similar means may be necessary to prevent the piston II- from being, forced outward of the valve through bore II in the event that the pressure at lla is reduced or opening ii. This fills chamber II above packing gland l6 and exerts a static pressure upon the v top of piston it and accordingly forces said piston downward to cover'all of orifice 3.; As pressure is applied in the system being controlled, the liquid, as oil, enters through bore 2 and pushes piston l8 upwardly against the static pressure in chamber II. when, however, piston' l8 has moved upwardly sumciently to uncover a portion .of orifice I, the oil thenfiows out through-same.

This release of the'oil controls the extent to which pressure can build up in the systemcon necting at 2-a. Obviously, the piston 18 will move upwardly suiilciently to uncover orifice 8 and" thus release oil therethroughin increasing quantity until the pressure in both systems is equalized and the piston ceases to move.- when the portions of.the slot w ose "sides are mutually parallel. Thus the valv herein disclosed will regulate smoothly Y and definitely pressure throughout a wide range-of pressures corresponding to the mutually parallel parts of slot 6, and yet the valve by the enlarged opening -b will be capable of releasing all pressure when the piston has movedsufiiciently upward to uncover said enlarged parts "-1! of orifice i. Y While the above description assumed that the pressure was imposed first at H- and then imposed at 2 a, it is obvious that the reverse procedure may be employed; namely, starting the pressure fluid through the system entering at 2-4:

and exiting at and then imposing the pressure l is the same as 'ina Figui-e '1 and its installation into thesystem tobe controlled at IP-a and 3 is the same. Inthis application, however, plug HI,

packing glandzi', packingl8, piston, I and plu 8--a; are removed therefrom and the hereinafter mentionedparts inserted. Pipe plug-23 is inserted in place of pipe plug i0 and is tightened by nut-like integjjat-portion 23-11; Plug 23 has bore 24 therein with standard threads for the-reception of adjusting screwv 2!. Nut; 2! is for locking p rposes. Piston 21 fits snugly but slidably into bore 2 and rests-against the bottom voi'chamber I! by its head 28. Upon head 28 I of said piston there rests spring 29 upon which there is pilot washer 3. which bears against the bottom end of screw 2!. A pipe may be inserted into bore! to-lead back into the system any oil comes-from f-a past'piston 21 into sham-Q which her l2.

The operation of this assembly follows. a -principle similar to that of the assembly of Figure 1.

By setting the screw 25, and locking thesame with nut 26, at any desired point, any determinable compression may be placed on spring 29.

Thus spring 29 will exert a controllable pressure upon the top orpiston'i'l. "A's. oil under pressure enters at 2a and exerts pressure upon the bottom of piston 21-, the same ismoved upward until a portion of orifice 61s uncovered, whereupon the oil flows out to the discharge at bore 3 for re-' turn to the low pressure side of the pump At a certain point, enough oi orifice 6 is uncoveredsojhat at thethen existing-pressure, the entire volume being forced. by -the pump will flow through openingprovided by orifice 5. below piston 21. At-this point, the opposing pressures at 2- q.:.and of the spring-29 are equal. 7

As flakes of scale or particles of dirt get into the system and clog orifice 6, the'only result j'in either case is'to force the piston ill or 21 upward to uncover "enough more of the orifice to compensate for the clogging. When the particleis finally dislodged, the piston drops back downward toreestablish the orifice at the-proper size, vWhen the viscosity of the fiuidat 2-21, as oil-,changes'ior any reason, 'it will accordingly pass more or'less easily through the orifice 6, and

volume for which this apparatus is designed, to-

gether withthe wide range of pressures over which it is intended to operate. Although the reason for this may not be obvious at first glance,

5 when it is observed that at one thousand pounds per square inch pressure that oil of ordinary light viscosity flowing at the rate of two quarts per minute through an. orifice having its portion 6.--a only 3 1 of an inch wide, will force theplung- 1 er upward to make an. opening only about 3 5 of .an inch high. In these small dimensions, atrlangular or similar form becomes impractical to machine and a series of smallholes give a gradation of pressures far too irregular togbe of any practical Likewise, with a series of holes,

when one becomes clogged b3 pipe scale or dirt within the system, there'is no way for the opening to be increased by which to clean the obstructing matter out of the hole and furthenin the form shown in Figure 2, it is necessary for the pressure to increase the size of the opening suificiently so that the piston may move upward against the spring to uncover the next hole. Hence, an even pressure will not be maintained.

Therefore, although I wish expressly to call attention to the fact that many variations may be ,madein'my valve as herein disclosed, I feel it essentialto state in connection therewith the certain above indicated limitations upon the v,3) making of variations in the shape of orifice 5.

7 Generally speaking, in making variations in this valve, it must be kept in mind throughout that the .valve 'as l have designed it is intended for extremely small volumes at a wide range of pressures extending from zero into the neighborhood of twenty-five hundred pounds per square inch. Accordingly, the orifice 6 must be kept small and narrow and the pressureadjusting mechanism for'the head of the piston must be per square inch, the occurrence of any such event 40 capable of wide variations and of imposing. high would react uponthe system so suddenly that even an-operatorin constant attendance could not adjust a Hand -valve quickly enough to-preventtrouble.

ItI-will be soon also that by-installing the body part I into the line of the fluid over which control is being exercised, the control may be readily converted from the form shown inFigure 1 to that shown in Figure 2, and vice versa, without removing said bodypart from the system. To e ingly, it will be understood that changes may be.

do such, it is only necessary toj-withdrawpipe plug in, piston ll, gland l6, packing l9 and plug 8-4 from the form ofthe. valve as shown in Filiure 1, and insert therein the members shown for .5 claims.

the form of Figure 2; namely, piston 2'l, spring 29; guide member 3!, pipe plug '23, screw 25 and locking nut 26. Hence, a regulatorvalve has been provided which may .meadily and quickly be changeable-from one form of. regulation to; the' .ean be taken with it. In this position, I have tried to use triangular openings and openings of 5 various progressively changing contours and I have also tried-to. use passage means consisting v.ofa series-of small round openings, both aligned parallel with the axis of bore 2 and arranged gs'p'irally around said axis. I have found that all of these are absolutely unwo kable. due, apparpressures.

Although specific embodiments of the present invention are shown in the accompanying drawing and described in the foregoing specification,

5 it will be apparent that certain features thereof made in the specific embodiments of the invention described without departing from the spirit or substance of the broad invention, the scope of which is commensurate with the appended .I claim as my invention:

1. An hydraulic regulating valve adapted to regulate the pressure of fluids over a wide "range of effective pressures while passing a small volume of pressure. fluidtherethrough, comprising a valve body having a longitudinal bore and a 'cross-bore'communicating therewith through a slot formed in' said'body and which is elongated in the, direction of the axis of the longitudinal bore, said slot being narrow in width and parallel-sided throughout the greater portion of its length and terminating in a substantially enlarged end portion, a, cylindrical valve member slidable in said bore and having one end movable along said slot to cover and uncover the same, and means normally operative through the other end of the valve member forv controlling 'movement of the valve member along the parallel-sided portion of said slot thereby to regulate ently, to the extremely high pressuresand small #35 -the pressure. of the .fiuid in the bore to th inlet side of said slot, said means being further operative-to cause the valve member to uncover the enlarged end portion of the slot thereby to release said pressure.

2. An hydraulic regulating valve as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means for controlling movement of the valve member along said slot includes an open-ended chamber formed in the valve body into which said other end of the valve member extends, and a removable plug closing said open end and providing connection betweensaid chamber and a source of control fluid pressure.

3. An hydraulic regulating valve as set forth in claim 1, wherein the means for controlling movement of the valve member along said slot includes an open-ended chamber formed in said valve body into which the other end of the valve member extends, a removable plug closing said end, and spring means disposed in said chamber and operative between said plug and said other end of the valve member for applying a control pres- 10 sure on the latter. 

